Bang Sak Explorations

Sa-watdii ka!
First, I have one thing to correct from my last post. Upon closer inspection of my guide book I found one paragraph on Bang Sak (even though it’s not in the index). From Lonely Planet: “Pre-tsunami the long, sleepy stretch of sand at Bang Sak had been attracting an ever- growing number of tourists striking north from the more heavily developed resorts of Phuket and nearby Khao Lak. While most areas had recovered from the tsunami by the end of 2006, Bang Sak was still trying to rebuild its tourist infrastructure. Rehabilitation efforts will likely continue well into 2008 (and it seems 2009 as well…). That said, the beach is open for business and the best way to help out the local is to stop over for a night to get the economy rolling again. For the latest on the region’s reconstruction, including details of the hotels that are open, visit www.khaolak-info.net.” I checked to see if the website works… it’s not very exciting but has some useful information about the region and various types of accommodation.
At the end of last week my friend Jeff from college stopped by for a couple of days at the end of his three weeks of traveling around Thailand. He got to relax while I was at school, but we also explored the beach and ate plenty of good Thai food. It was delightful to have a familiar face to visit with and I even got him to go on an early morning (but still very warm) run with me! And in exchange for putting him up for a few days, Jeff rid my bungalow of the giant spider, but of course the day after he left I found another one that I had to deal with myself.
I spent the weekend exploring this place, my new home. I started at the school.

Here are some pictures of what remains of the old school that was destroyed by the tsunami. The I went to the beach, where families were playing in the sand or just lazing together in the shade. These tsunami signs are very common all along the coast.

It has, as far as I can tell been fully rebuilt after the tsunami and is a very pleasant place. There are even some new buildings going up. Check out that construction!
I took a new road away from the beach that wound through a Moken (Sea Gypsy) neighborhood. For more information about the Moken check out this article that a friend sent me…. http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2005/04/sea-gypsies/ivanoff-text. Around here most of the houses along the highway are concrete, but on the local roads there are as many wicker houses on pilings as there are concrete structures. And there are usually little glittering houses in front of every structure that are called spirit houses because building on the land disrupts the spirits that live there, so to prevent them from tormenting you, you give them a house to live in. If you expand at all, you need to give the spirits a comperable upgrade too so they don't get jealous.

At the end of a little road I found this large, once beautiful building, that was probably a hotel of some sort. It was an eerie place but magnetic as well. It is located at the end of one of the points here on the Andaman coast with lovely white sand beaches. It’s a strange thing to look at this skeleton of a building from the beach then turn around and look at the stunning water that destroyed it. There were a few smaller buildings with only the foundations left too, which reminded me a lot of the buildings I saw in the 9th ward during the spring break relief trip after Hurricane Katrina.

But just up the road from this place that seems so dead I found these little buddies rooting around. Look Dad- Thai Yorkshires!

I also went on some solo trips to the towns to the north called Bang Muang and Takuapa. There are a few markets in these towns (there are none in Bang Sak…) where I started using some of the Thai I’m learning. In the picture is the lovely couple who sell the best mango sticky rice around! All of these excursions were great opportunities to learn how to ride my new (rented) motor bike!

Mom- please notice the helmet. Yes, I do wear it…all the time actually. Most folks around here just wear their helmets during the period of time during the day when the police are checking.

And in case you were wondering what the inside of a dragon fruit or a mangosteen look like...

Here's a sunset as farwell until next time. Love to you all!